The Glow-Worm 



sated diners retire from this gruel, only in- 

 significant leavings remain. 



The matter is obvious: by repeated tiny 

 bites, similar to the tweaks which we saw 

 distributed at the outset, the flesh of the 

 mollusc is converted into a gruel on which 

 the various banqueters nourish themselves 

 without distinction, each working at the broth 

 by means of some special pepsine and each 

 taking his own mouthfuls of it. In conse- 

 quence of this method, which first converts 

 the food into a liquid, the Glow-worm's 

 mouth must be very feebly armed apart from 

 the two fangs which sting the patient and 

 inject the anaesthetic poison and, at the same 

 time, no doubt, the serum capable of turn- 

 ing the solid flesh into fluid. These two tiny 

 implements, which can just be examined 

 through the lens, must, it seems, have some 

 other object. They are hollow and in this 

 resemble those of the Ant-lion, which sucks 

 and drains its capture without having to 

 divide it; but there is this great difference, 

 that the Ant-lion leaves copious remnants, 

 which are afterwards flung outside the fun- 

 nel-shaped trap dug in the sand, whereas 

 the Glow-worm, that expert liquefier, leaves 

 nothing, or next to nothing. With similar 

 tools, the one simply sucks the blood of its 

 13 



